Quiet week for the Unofficial Problem Bank List as there were only two removals. The changes leave the list with 946 institutions with assets of $376.5 billion. A year ago, the list 982 institutions with assets of $433.2 billion. The action against First Savings Bank Northwest, Renton, WA ($1.0 billion Ticker: FFNW) was replaced by an informal action and Pilsen State Bank, Lincolnville, KS ($11 million) was dissolved through an unassisted merger.

With the passage of the first quarter of 2012, it is time to update the Unofficial Problem Bank List transition matrix. The list debuted on August 7, 2009 with 389 institutions with assets of $276.3 billion (see table). Over the past 32 months, 230 institutions or about 59 percent of the institutions on the original list have been removed with 137 from failure, 71 from action termination, 20 from unassisted merger, and two from voluntary liquidation. About 35 percent of the 389 institutions on the original list have failed, which is substantially higher than the 12 percent figure usually cited by the media as the failure rate for institutions on the FDIC Problem Bank List.

Since the publication of the original list, another 1,122 institutions have been added. However, only 789 of those additions remain on the current list as 333 institutions have been removed in the interim. Of the 333 inter-period removals, 178 were from failure, 72 were from an unassisted merger, 78 from action termination, and five from voluntary liquidation.

In total, 1,511 institutions have made an appearance on the Unofficial Problem Bank List and 315 or 20.8 percent have failed. Of the 563 total removals, the primary way of exit from the list is failure at 315 institutions or 56 percent. Only 149 or around 27 percent have been able to rehabilitate themselves to see their respective action terminated. Alternatively, another 92 or nearly 16 percent found merger partners most likely to avoid failure. Total assets that have appeared on the list amount to $789.8 billion and $282.3 billion have been removed due to failure. The average asset size of removals from failure is $896 million.

Unofficial Problem Bank List

Change Summary

Number of Institutions

Assets ($Thousands)

Start (8/7/2009)

389

276,313,429

&nbsp

Subtractions

Action Terminated

71

(19,039,409)

Unassisted Merger

20

(3,401,337)

Voluntary Liquidation

2

(4,855,164)

Failures

137

(178,872,611)

Asset Change

(14,066,292)

&nbsp

Still on List at 3/31/2012

167

56,078,616

&nbsp

Additions

789

321,473,577

&nbsp

End (3/31/2012)

948

377,552,193

&nbsp

Intraperiod Deletions1

Action Terminated

78

44,376,836

Unassisted Merger

72

42,937,646

Voluntary Liquidation

5

1,259,188

Failures

178

103,460,185

Total

333

192,033,855

1Institutions not on 8/7/2009 or 3/31/2012 list but appeared on a list between these dates.

In Memoriam: Doris "Tanta" Dungey

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Blogroll: I'm receiving 100s of requests to be on the blogroll and it is completely out of control.Right now the blogroll is frozen until further notice while I rethink the usefulness for the readers. Sorry.Thanks, CR